Indian Cinema has been evolving these days. We see stories of disenfranchised communities displayed in cinemas. As discussed by Goddard and Hogg (2018), how television has transformed in the context of trans people. Transgender characters in the cinema are gaining more attention, moving away from the usual stereotypes made in society about the trans community. A Young Indian Actor named Abhay Verma portrayed a trans character in the movie “Safed” released in 2023 in Indian Cinema. Besides the fact he was not ready to take this film project as it portrays transgender, he took it as a challenge and gave his best performance in the film. He went out of the way, accepted the challenge of being from a small town, coming from a very conservative environment, and portrayed a character of a community that is not privileged.

In Safed (2023), Actor Abhay Verma portrays a character which focuses more upon societal and personal conflicts, where he was struggling for acceptance and love. His performance in the movie highlights about the struggles faced by transgender in day-to-day life. In the film, Actor Abhay Verma is portraying about someone who is stuck between societal norms and environmental pressure and acceptance. The film avoids melodrama and focuses more on realistic societal views about the trans community.

In an interview, Abhay Verma talked about how challenging it was for him to say yes to this project as at first he said no to this project after listening whole script, even his family and friends denied him not to take this project. However, Abhay took this as a challenge and portrayed trans in the movie. His extensive research and hardwork, include interacting with members of the transgender community to understand their experiences and emotions

Portraying a transgender character in a socially conservative society like India had its own challenge as these communities are still not in acceptance in Indian society and is considered to be breaking several social norms and questioning gender identity.

Abhay also mentioned the challenges and criticism he had to face while shooting the film, the young actor even got bullied traveling from the shooting set to the home at night while he was in his trans getup. Though there were many factors affecting Abhay’s decision to take this project as he had just started his career in the films but he took this as a challenge and portrayed well in the movie which initially contributed and made an impact to the cultural shift in the Indian cinema.

Bibliography

Goddard, M. & Hogg, C. (2018). Introduction: Trans TV as concept and intervention into contemporary television. Critical Studies in Television, 13(4). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1749602018798217

TheFreePressJournal.29/12/23.Safed Actor Abhay Verma On Playing A Eunuch: ‘I Was Skeptical And Very Scared’ available at. https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/safed-actor-abhay-verma-on-playing-a-eunuch-i-was-skeptical-and-very-scared accessed on 10/11/24

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